disclaimer: Pokémon isn't mine.
for: Kaori Kuni, may you like this.
pairing: Lance/Clair.
notes: I love the song Carnival of Rust so much, listen to it.

carnival of rust
— in all this turmoil, before red cape and foil came closing for a kill.

.

He was always the perfect one, and it pleased her that he needed her in order to thrive in their secret Eden. And every day, as his lips were buried in her throat, marking delicate flesh— she wondered who the snake, the temptation in this relationship was. It's you, he whispers, but she thinks he's so beautiful and powerful and the reason they've fallen so low. (But, she knows he's right, because it is the women whose painted lips and darkened lashes lure the man like a serpent.)

.

Sometimes, she acts innocent in a way that reminds her of that little girl with big brown eyes and innocence in her smile, this is wrong, she says and just won't stop repeating it, until she's sure she really means it and his kisses are starting to bruise her lips.

He's really cruel, sometimes teasing her with his way of being so close, yet so far, but she still waits for him like a doll on the windowsill waiting for her owner to play with her.

.

There are times when he won't come at all.

Those times are the worst, and she's known to be especially cruel to those who visit her around that time, yearning for a battle— like that little girl and that little boy, Lyra and Silver. Foolish children, she thinks of them, foolish children that are brave with their idiocy to dive head first into anything.

But sometimes, she speaks to them about the Champion they both wish to battle. She says he's a child of the Viridian Forest and a long, long time ago he fell in love with a girl with a yellow ponytail, who was never seen by any of them, after he was titled Champion. She speaks with jealousy and longing, and it wasn't long before the girl said—

You love him, don't you?

Thunder roared and lightening crackled as she yelled at them to get out of her gym.

.

Sometimes his hair reminded her of those red hard candies that his mother used to give them, she thinks as she strokes his hair, watching him sleep.

Because, only in those moments can she tell him that she loves him.

.

I love you.

She says, and watches as he shifts in his sleep, "I love you, too— Yellow."

.

She always knew that she would be riding this carnival of rust alone.

.

the end.